When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin

They were the last great band of the '60s and the first great band of the '70s. They rose, somewhat unpromisingly, from the ashes of the Yardbirds to become one of the biggest-selling rock bands of all time - and eventually paid the price for it, with disaster, drug addiction, and death.

My Cross to Bear

As one of the greatest rock icons of all time, Gregg Allman has lived it all and then some. For almost 50 years, he's been creating some of the most recognizable songs in American rock, but never before has he paused to reflect on the long road he's traveled. Now, he tells the unflinching story of his life, laying bare the unvarnished truth about his wild ride that has spanned across the years.

Who I Am

From the voice of a generation: the most highly anticipated autobiography of the year, and the story of a man who wanted The Who to be called The Hair; wanted to be a sculptor, a journalist, a dancer and a graphic designer; became a musician, composer, librettist, fiction writer, literary editor, sailor; drank too much and nearly died; detached from his body in an airplane, on LSD, and nearly died; planned to write his memoir when he was 21; and published this book at 67.

Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix

For many, the name Jimi Hendrix conjures up a larger-than-life image of the man who set fire to guitars, women's hearts, and the status quo. In this groundbreaking account, music journalist Charles R. Cross takes a far deeper look. Beyond Hendrix's legendary onstage and offstage magnetism, and his excessive lifestyle, was a man who struggled to accept his role as an idol and privately craved the kind of normal family life he never had.

Petty: The Biography

No one other than Warren Zanes, rocker and writer and friend, could author a book about Tom Petty that is as honest and evocative of Petty's music and the remarkable rock and roll history he and his band helped to write. Born in Gainesville, Florida, with more than a little hillbilly in his blood, Tom Petty was a Southern shit kicker, a kid without a whole lot of promise. Rock and roll made it otherwise.

Life

Now at last Keith Richards pauses to tell his story in the most anticipated autobiography in decades. And what a story! Listening obsessively to Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records in a coldwater flat with Mick Jagger and Brian Jones, building a sound and a band out of music they loved. Finding fame and success as a bad-boy band, only to find themselves challenged by authorities everywhere....

Play On: Now, Then, and Fleetwood Mac: The Autobiography

In this candid, intimate portrait of a life lived in music, Mick Fleetwood sheds new light on well-known points in his history, including many incredible moments of recording and touring with Fleetwood Mac, as well as personal insights from a man who has been a major player in blues and rock n' roll since his teens.

Rocks: My Life in and out of Aerosmith

In Rocks, Joe Perry exposes his unrepentant, unbridled life as the lead guitarist of Aerosmith. He delves deep into his volatile, profound, and enduring relationship with singer Steve Tyler and reveals the real people behind the larger-than-life rock gods onstage. The nearly five-decade saga of Aerosmith is epic, at once a study in brotherhood and solitude that plays out on the killing fields of rock and roll.

Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music

Creedence Clearwater Revival is one of the most important and beloved bands in the history of rock, and John Fogerty wrote, sang, and produced their instantly recognizable classics: "Proud Mary", "Bad Moon Rising", "Born on the Bayou", and more. Now he reveals how he brought CCR to number one in the world, eclipsing even the Beatles in 1969. By the next year, though, Creedence was falling apart; their amazing, enduring success exploded and faded in just a few short years.

Light & Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page

More than 30 years after disbanding in 1980, Led Zeppelin continues to be celebrated for its artistic achievements, broad musical influence, and commercial success. The band's notorious exploits have been chronicled in bestselling books; yet none of the individual members of the band has penned a memoir nor cooperated to any degree with the press or a biographer.

Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life

From Graham Nash - the legendary musician and founding member of the iconic bands Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Hollies - comes a candid and riveting autobiography that belongs on the reading list of every classic rock fan.

Homeward Bound: The Life of Paul Simon

To have been alive during the last 60 years is to have lived with the music of Paul Simon. The boy from Queens scored his first hit record in 1957, just months after Elvis Presley ignited the rock era. As the songwriting half of Simon & Garfunkel, his work helped define the youth movement of the '60s. On his own in the '70s, Simon made radio-dominating hits. He kicked off the '80s by reuniting with Garfunkel to perform for half a million New Yorkers in Central Park. Five years later Simon's album Graceland sold millions. And it doesn't stop there.

Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001)

The Eagles are the bestselling, and arguably the tightest-lipped, American group ever. Now band member and guitarist Don Felder finally breaks the Eagles years of public silence to take fans behind the scenes. He shares every part of the bands wild ride, from the pressure-packed recording studios and trashed hotel rooms to the tension-filled courtrooms, and from the joy of writing powerful new songs to the magic of performing in huge arenas packed with roaring fans.

Paul McCartney: The Life

Since the age of 21, Paul McCartney has lived one of the ultimate rock 'n' roll lives, played out on the most public of stages. Now Paul's story is told by rock music's foremost biographer, with McCartney's consent and access to family members and close friends who have never spoken on the record before.

Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?: A Rock 'n' Roll Memoir

The son of a classical pianist straight out of the Bronx of old Archie comics, Steven Tyler was born to be a rock star. Weaned on Cole Porter, Nat King Cole, Mick and his beloved Janis Joplin, Tyler began tearing up the streets and the stage as a teenager before finally meeting his "mutant twin" and legendary partner, Joe Perry. In this addictively listenable memoir, Tyler unabashedly recounts the meteoric rise, fall, and rise of Aerosmith over the last three decades and riffs on the music that gives it all meaning.

Hotel California

The classic account of the LA Canyons scene between 1967 and 1976, featuring Joni Mitchell; Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young; The Eagles; James Taylor; and Jackson Browne. Ambition, betrayal, drugs and genius all combine with great music making.

Waging Heavy Peace

An iconic figure in the history of rock and pop culture (inducted not once but twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), Neil Young has written his eagerly awaited memoir. Young offers a kaleidoscopic view of his personal life and musical career, spanning his time in bands like Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Crazy Horse; moving from the snows of Ontario through the LSD-laden boulevards of 1966 Los Angeles to the contemplative paradise of Hawaii today.

Rod: The Autobiography

Rod Stewart was born the working class son of a Scottish plumber in north London. Despite some early close shaves with a number of diverse career paths ranging from gravedigging to professional soccer, it was music that truly captured his heart - and he never looked back. Rod’s is an incredible life, and here - thrillingly and for the first time - he tells the entire thing, leaving no knickers under the bed. A rollicking rock ’n’ roll adventure that is at times deeply moving, this is the remarkable journey of a guy with one hell of a voice - and one hell of a head of hair.

Publisher's Summary

Eric Clapton is far more than a rock star. Like Dylan and McCartney, he is an icon and a living legend. He has sold tens of millions of records, played sell-out concerts all over the world, and been central to the significant musical developments of his era. His guitar playing has seen him hailed as "God". Tracks such as "Layla", "Sunshine of Your Love", "Wonderful Tonight", and "Tears in Heaven" have become anthems for generations of music fans. Now, for the first time, Eric tells the story of his personal and professional journeys in this pungent, witty, and painfully honest autobiography.

Eric was born illegitimate in 1945 and raised by his grandparents. He never knew his father, and until the age of nine believed his absentee mother to be his sister. In his teens his solace was the guitar, and he soon became a cult hero in the club circuits of Britain. With the foundation of the world's first super-group, Cream, in 1966, he became a world superstar.

But the rock-star lifestyle has had a darker side. In more than 40 years at the forefront of his profession, he has twice survived near fatal addictions to drugs and alcohol, the death of his four-year-old son, the deaths of friends such as Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon, the break-up of marriage, and the disintegration of relationships with a succession of beautiful women.

These are the memoirs of a survivor, someone who has reached the pinnacle of success, who has had it all, but whose demons have never left him. At the age of 62, Eric is now ready to tell his story as it is, hiding nothing, with a directness and searing honesty that will make this book one of the most compelling memoirs of our time.

What the Critics Say

"Both the youthful excesses and the current calm state are narrated with an engaging tone that nudges Clapton's story ahead of other rock 'n' roll memoirs." (Publishers Weekly)
"Clapton is honest - sometimes, as in the account of his son's death, even searing - and often witty, with a hard-won survivor's humor." (The New York Times)

I enjoyed the book. There were points in there where I felt like you do at some movies – you want to tell the person not to open the door because there is a monster or something outside. Its hard to know how “accurate” it is, but there is a clear attempt at honesty, and an attempt to make you understand what Eric was thinking (or not thinking) when he was doing things. There are some surprises – without ruining it for anyone, one of the biggest surprises to me is how much he has always been into fashion. Anyway, its all there: the Yardbirds, Cream, John Mayall, Derek and the Dominoes, his love for Patty, George Harrison’s wife; his addiction to heroin and his even more debilitating alcoholism. He talks about how some of his big hits came about; what makes a guitar “good”; getting wasted and being sober; family, friends and others. It was a good “read.” The narrator, Simon Vance, did a very nice job, as always.

I'm a Clapton fan and was glad to have the details of his life's course opened up to me. I listened to this entire book in just a few days, despite also working for a living, so it is somewhat compelling. But once Clapton's career's in full swing, the focus changes from music to substance abuse and recovery, and the second half of the book is really about nothing except recovery (including the recovery from grief at the death of his young son). That's OK, that's Eric's THING, and it's less didactic and self-aggrandizing than many recovery memoirs. But as a music fan, I wanted more details about the songs, the records. And the author gets his own facts wrong--he claims "Tears in Heaven" was a hit from the "Rush" soundtrack, when in fact it went largely unheard until his "Unplugged" CD came out--you know his mind is elsewhere. Still a good listen for fans, and certainly an essential text for artistic folks in recovery. Besides, how can you not love Clapton? Clapton is God, right?

I have followed Eric Clapton’s career. He is a complete guitarist, able to play in any genre, and able to collaborate with any artist. He plays electric, acoustic guitar, and slide guitar.

This book is almost a confessional of his drug and alcohol use and his bad treatment of some people he used in his life. In his 62 years, he has been involved with an enviable number of beautiful young women. His chapters coincide with his albums and the band he played with.

Unfortunately, Clapton makes little mention of the various guitarists he collaborated with. Duane Allman gets two paragraphs though these two pushed each other into making one of the all-time great guitar albums, Layla and other Love Songs. Fans of Clapton as a musician will find little here about the musical aspects of his career. This information has to be sought out in the many interviews he gives in various magazines.

Just finished listening to "Clapton" by Eric Clapton. He writes how CranioSacral Therapy helped his youngest daughter when (as a newborn) she was unable to latch onto her mom's breast, and had colic. She had immediate relief after the first session.

I was so impressed with his intelligence. Due to his journaling throughout his life, this book chronicles his experiences with such detail... making this a fascinating read. I was sorry it was over.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Clapton?

It's not a moment, but instead my astonishment at how intelligent he is.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It was a profound walk down memory lane, as he is only a few years older than I am.

I already read this in print a few years ago but wanted the audio version which is always special. Simon Vance did a great job as I knew he would. Like everything he has narrated.

For those of you who thought this was going to be a piece of total recognition of Erics music, you were wrong to think so. We all know his musical success and recognition. Stars or others do not write autobiographies for that sort of thing. Those that do it correctly and honestly write it for the truth of where things have gone over the years. This is very truthful. It is exceptional and Eric's struggle with drugs and alcohol are at the heart of this. We are darn glad he is still alive because things were not necessarily going to go that direction. With the help of friends and his own will, we still have him playing that incredible guitar today. A good autobiography is kind of "stripping of the soul" and not just the accolades that have been presented to a particular person in his lifetime. The best accolade I can think of is that he finally got his act together and is still with us and doing philanthropic things with "Crossroads" to help others. It doesn't get any better than that. Get into the real story here and the blessings since his recovery and don't look at just the awards...........he would be the first to tell you that the awards are not at the heart of this book.

If you are going on a long trip, this is an incredible way to pass the time. I've never been a fan of books on tape but this one kept my interest on a 10 hour drive. If you are an Eric Clapton fan you will enjoy this!

I was really excited when I saw that this book was released on audiobook. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed in this audio book. I wanted more detail on the incredible bands and the wonderful songs that Clapton was involved in, this was usually short treated. To be honest, I found the guy to be a bit whiney. I got tired of hearing about his women. Sometimes you learn more in biographies than you ever wanted to know.

I have been a fan of Clapton for 35 years. Not only does he share the greatness of his life, but also the very lows. He has some profound thoughts on recovery, which I found very interesting. If you love rock'n' roll, you'll love this book.